Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hill to Baghdad, Daalder to NATO, Vershbow to DOD, Verma to "H"
Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry as Ambassador to Afghanistan and Christopher R. Hill as Ambassador to Iraq. The President also announced his intent to nominate Ivo Daalder as United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Ambassador to NATO), Alexander Vershbow as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and Richard R. Verma for Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the State Department.

Christopher R. Hill, Nominee for Ambassador to Iraq

Christopher R. Hill is currently the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.Ambassador Hill is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service whose most recent assignment was as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. On February 14, 2005, he was named as the Head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Previously he has served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999). […]Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a B.A. in Economics. He received a Master's degree from the Naval War College in 1994. He speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian.

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, Nominee for Ambassador to Afghanistan

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry is the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium. His previous assignment was Commander of the Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan. Lieutenant General Eikenberry’s operational posts include service as commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, Korea, and Italy. He has served in various strategy, policy, and political-military positions, including: Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command; U.S. Security Coordinator and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul, Afghanistan; Assistant Army and later Defense Attaché at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China; Senior Country Director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Army Staff.

Lieutenant General Eikenberry is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has earned master’s degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and from Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and he has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China. Lieutenant General Eikenberry’s military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished and Superior Service Medals, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Ranger Tab, Combat and Expert Infantryman badges, and master parachutist wings. He has received the Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, Director of Central Intelligence Award, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, Czech Republic Meritorious Cross, Hungarian Alliance Medal, French Legion of Honor, and Afghanistan’s Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan and Akbar Khan Medals. He is married to Ching Eikenberry.

Alexander Vershbow, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense

Alexander Vershbow served as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2005 to 2008, capping a 32-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service. Alexander Vershbow is a long-time expert on Russia, East-West relations, non-proliferation and European security affairs. From 2001 to 2005, he was U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. From 1998 to 2001, Alexander Vershbow served as the U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). From 1994 to 1997, Vershbow served as Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior assignments include Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO, Director of the State Department’s Office of Soviet Union Affairs, and Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks. Alexander Vershbow received a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Columbia University. His wife Lisa is a professional metal artist and designer of contemporary jewelry.

Ivo Daalder, Nominee for United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Ambassador to NATO)